Mystification was composed for the Harvest Trio, made up of violinist Mary Perkinson, clarinetist Brian Levels, and percussionist Scott Shinbara. The trio members are faculty at the School of Music, University of Nebraska, Omaha.

This recording is from the Playground Ensemble's Colorado Composer's Concert (CoCoCo) in April, 2017, the most recent performance of the piece.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbUJ9tXJfU8

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When trombonist Frank R. Cook commissioned me to write him a piece for trombone and harp, I couldn’t help but to think of the popular image of a person with an angel on one shoulder and the devil on the other, each giving conflicting advice. After some research, I found the modern idea of the “shoulder angels” may have been inspired by the poem Psychomachia by the 5th Century Latin poet Prudentius, depicting the inner battle between vices and virtues. To quote Frank’s introduction to the piece when it was premiered fall 2015, “What we will have here is that inner monologue going on - but it’s not always the angelic instrument and the demonic instrument as you would think”.

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The Soapstone Prairie Quintet was commissioned by the Classical Revolution Northern Colorado Woodwind Quintet for the “Melody of Our Landscape” series. “Melody of Our Landscape” was created in collaboration with the Fort Collins Museum of Discovery Otterbox Digital Dome Theatre and is presented as part of the FoCo Concerts for Kids series.